The invention relates to powering computer systems. In particular, the invention relates to providing a computer system with a reliable power supply for use in environments and applications that place high demands on system reliability, for example in the telecommunications industry.
Deregulation and privatization is causing unprecedented competition in the worldwide telecommunications market. This climate of fierce competition has meant that service providers must introduce new, more sophisticated and user-friendly services at an accelerated pace to retain or attract subscribers, while not compromising traditional telecommunications company (telco) service quality.
These pressures of competition have also placed high demands on Network Equipment Providers (NEPs). Traditionally, NEPs have designed, built and supported proprietary computing equipment, as the strict telco requirements could not be met by the commercial computing sector. Those requirements include the so-called TelcoRdia Technologies Network Equipment Buildings Systems (NEBS) tests. However, due to the lead times required to design and test such proprietary equipment, and the cost of supporting such equipment, there is a need to find another route, at least for the supply of the more cost and performance sensitive sectors within the telco industry.
A major concern of the telco sector is the reliability of systems. To address this issue, many prior systems, for example for providing the function of a telco server computer, have employed redundant computer systems. In such a redundant computer system, two or more processing sets are provided, typically with each being configured on a separate motherboard and with a mechanism for voting between the processing sets to determine whether one is faulty. Each of the processing sets may include one or more processors. If the voting system determines that one of the processing sets is faulty, then the other one or more processing sets can continue to function. In such systems, other multiple versions of other of the components of the system can be provided. For example, it is known to provide three power supply units such that if one of the power supply units fails, the system can continue to function with power from the remaining two power supply units.
In order to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of the telco industry, and in order to provide equipment at reasonable cost and within reasonable time scales, it would be desirable to use as many off-the-shelf computer system components as possible, rather than having to design and test each system in its entirety from scratch. For example, it would be desirable to select components designed for the commercial computing sector. However, such equipment is typically not designed with the stringent requirements of the telco industry in mind.
Accordingly, it is an aim of the present invention to address the provision of cost-effective equipment that can meet technical demands of the telco environments, while also meeting the modern commercial demands of that environment.
Particular and preferred aspects of the invention are set out in the accompanying independent and dependent claims. Combinations of features from the dependent claims may be combined with features of the independent claims as appropriate and not merely as explicitly set out in the claims.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a power sub-system for a computer system including processing circuitry and an alarm circuit connectable to a network. The power sub-system includes at least three power supply units, at least a predetermined plurality of power supply units being required to power the computer system, and a power distribution mechanism connectable to the power supply units. The power distribution mechanism is connectable to the processing circuitry to supply main power thereto and is connectable to the alarm circuitry to supply standby power thereto. The power distribution mechanism is operable to supply main power to the processing circuitry when at least a said predetermined plurality of connected power supplies are operative and is operable to supply standby power to the alarm circuitry when at least one power supply is operative.
The use of a power distribution mechanism enables power to be supplied to the alarm circuitry when only one power supply remains operative. In this manner an alarm can still be reported over the network when the other power supply units have failed or are not present. Thus even when the computer system as such is not operable, the alarm and reporting functions may still be performed.
Preferably, the alarm circuitry also enables remote diagnostic functions to be performed from a remote location over the network. The alarm circuitry can also be operable to enable selective powering on and off of the computer system from a remote location over the network.
The alarm circuitry can be connectable to a network for reporting faults to a remote location, for example via a serial link
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there are three power supplies and the predetermined plurality is two. The use of a power supply system with three power supply units, where two power supplies are needed to power the system, means that the system can still operate if one of the power supply units fails. As each power supply unit only needs to be of a capacity half of that required to power the computer system, the size and cost of providing a redundant power supply sub-system can be kept down.
The power sub-system can include a power distribution board with power distribution logic operable to distribute power from the power supply units for powering the processing circuitry, the power distribution circuitry being operable to interrupt power for powering the processor module when two of the power supply units fail or are not present.
The power sub-system can include a sub-frame for receiving the power supply units.
The power sub-system can comprise a chassis having a front and a rear, with the power sub-system sub-frame being located in the rear of the chassis.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer system comprising: processing circuitry; alarm circuitry connectable to a network; and a power sub-system including at least three power supply units, at least a predetermined plurality of power supply units being required to power the computer system, and a power distribution mechanism connectable to the power supply units, the power distribution mechanism being connected to the processing circuitry to supply main power thereto and connected to the alarm circuitry to supply standby power thereto, the power distribution mechanism being operable to supply main power to the processing circuitry when at least a said predetermined plurality of connected power supplies are operative and being operable to supply standby power to the alarm circuitry when at least one power supply is operative.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of powering a computer system including processing circuitry, and alarm circuitry connectable to a network, the method comprising: at least three power supply units supplying power to the computer system, wherein a predetermined number of power supply units are required to power the computer system, and a power distribution mechanism supplying main power to the processing circuitry and supplying standby power to the alarm circuitry, wherein the power distribution mechanism supplies main power to the processing circuitry when at least a said predetermined plurality of connected power supplies are operative and supplies standby power to the alarm circuitry when at least one power supply is operative.